FRIENDSHIP, Unity and Christian Charity

GENERAL MEAGHER’S DISPATCHES http://www.aohfredericksburg.org/ January 2017 Volume 5/Number 1

President: Shawn Lenahan Chaplain: Father Jerry Wooton Vice President: John Tracy Financial Secretary: Bob Fitzgerald Treasurer: Jeff Everett Recording Secretary: Bill Vanderveer Standing Committee: Dave McLaughlin Marshal: Paul O’Brien Sentinel: Jack Grey; Webmaster: John Hogan Newsletter Editor: Bill Halpin ([email protected])

“You’re not a true Hibernian until you’ve received the Major Degrees” says AOH legend and Life Member, Pat Troy. The next opportunity to receive the Major Degrees will be during the VAAOH Quarterly State meeting scheduled for 21 January immediately following the quarterly state meeting at St Theresa Church in Ashburn. All eligible Gen. Meagher Division brothers should take advantage of this opportunity to fulfill the pledge to do so when they joined the division.

President’s Corner Dear Brothers:

Happy New Year!

I can’t express how grateful and humbled I am to be chosen as the 17th President of the General Thomas F Meagher Division. This year marks our 30th year as a growing and dynamic Irish-Catholic organization in the greater Fredericksburg area and I owe a debt of gratitude to the officers and members that came before me.

From our humble beginnings on December 12, 1987 our Division has grown to more than 70 members representing four parishes in the greater Fredericksburg area. Through your involvement, Irish culture and unity is on public display at ceremonies, parades, outings, and church events. We demonstrate Christian charity by donating our time and providing financial support to churches, local charities, seminarians and students. The Ancient Order of Hibernians is the preeminent organization responsible for increasing awareness of the Irish in our community and continuing the work of St. Patrick, the Glorious Apostle of . It is with this in mind that the priority of my tenure will be to create an environment where we can increase awareness of Irish heritage amongst ourselves and in the community.

2017 will not be without its’ challenges. I am, however, confident that with your prayers and support we will meet them head on and be ready for our next thirty years!

In Friendship, Unity, and Christian Charity,

Shawn Lenahan

“The Celt would forfeit his title to the respect of the civilized world, did he not fight with all his heart and all his soul and all his cunning against the empire which has despoiled him ad murdered his kin, now with arms, now with artificial famine. There can be no peace between the two people until either Ireland is a desert or is free. It is war to the knife, and the knife to the hilt. There can be neither truce nor compromise.”

The annual Division Christmas Party was another tremendous success with more than 50 brothers and family members attending. Again this year Pat Fogarty and Danny Tryon took the lead I organizing and preparing the St Michael the Archangel High School gymnasium. Santa was there to delight the children along with plenty of food and song. At left, Sentinel Jack Grey and Jill Lenahan are celebrating the Christmas spirit.

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Irish Pubs

Posted by Kevin Martin on Wild Geese on November 16, 2016

1. Ancient Irish law decreed 24-hour opening.

Under Brehon Law – first codified in the sixth and seventh centuries – each local king was required to have his own bruigu (also sometimes spelled brughaid), or brewer. A bruigu was obliged to have “a never-dry cauldron, a dwelling on a public road and a welcome to every face.” He had to provide hospitality to all comers in his bruidean (usually translated as “hostel”). The bruidean had to be located at a crossroads; have four doors, one on each of the approaching routes; have torch-bearing greeters on a lawn outside so nobody would pass by unwelcomed; and stay open 24 hours a day. There were strict rules on provisions: The bruigu had to stock three uncooked red meats, butchered and ready to cook; three stewed meats cooked and kept heated; and three types of live animals, ready to slaughter at short notice. Three different cheering sounds had to be heard in the bruidean simultaneously: the cheers of the ale-makers going happily about their work, the cheers of the servers bringing alcohol from the cauldron, and the cheers of young men playing chess.

2. The oldest pub and the oldest graffiti in Ireland.

After a dispute had rumbled on for many years, the owners of Sean’s Bar in Athlone, Co Westmeath, and The Brazen Head in Dublin agreed to go on national radio to decide which of their establishments should be recognized as the oldest pub in Ireland. The late DJ Gerry Ryan hosted the debate. The owner of Sean’s Bar provided evidence – verified by archaeologists and historians from the National Museum – that strongly suggested the presence of a retail premises on the site dating back to AD900. During renovations in 1970, the walls, parts of which are now on display at the National Museum, were found to be made of wattle and daub. The builders also found coins dating from the period, minted by local landlords and probably used as beer tokens. The owners highlighted written evidence of a rest stop for pilgrims on their way to nearby Clonmacnoise. The Brazen Head had no answers and graciously admitted defeat. They may have taken some small consolation when a signature etched on one of their windows was confirmed to be from 1726 and was awarded the title of the oldest piece of graffiti in the country. The writing – in a whorl on a bottle-glass pane – is so small it cannot be read with the naked eye, but with the aid of a magnifying glass it is possible to decipher the spidery writing: “John Langan halted here 7th August 1726”.

3. The Normans brought wine bars and the term “vintners” to Ireland.

The word tavern – originally from the Latin taberna, meaning hut – was first used when the Normans occupied parts of Ireland in the twelfth century. The Normans were wine lovers and imported the best wines from their homeland. At first, the alcohol was managed by wine merchants, or vintners, and delivered to the cellars of the castles of the Norman lords, who largely resided inside the Pale. Occasionally, they held wine-tasting events when new stock was imported, and over time began to sell the surplus at the point of storage. These taverns became meeting places for important members of society where alcohol and food were served and issues of the day discussed. Dublin’s Winetavern Street, referred to as vicus tabernariorum vini in Latin – “the street of the wine taverners’” – was the main center of distribution and retail. In 1979, while excavating the controversial Wood Quay site nearby, archaeologists found over 2,000 pewter tavern tokens dumped in a refuse pit.

4. Pubs were once allowed to store dead bodies.

The Coroners Act of 1846 decreed a dead body had to be brought to the nearest public house for storage until further arrangements were made. The beer cellars were cool and slowed decomposition, and it became common for publicans to have marble tables in their cellars for autopsies. This legislation was not removed from the statute books until 1962, and the dual role of publican and undertaker is still common in Ireland. The Freeman’s Journal of April 9th, 1869, carried a story of a bus crash in Dublin. The injured were brought to Lawler’s pub to be treated, instead of to the nearby St Mary’s Asylum where nurses and doctors were in attendance. The editor complained the choice was inappropriate because the publican had no beds. Patrick Lawler saw fit to write to the paper to defend his actions:

“I beg to say that the body of Mrs. Byrne was brought into my house by the direction of Dr Monks, and laid on the table of the taproom, where a large fire was burning. Blankets were at once brought down from the bed of my own family and wrapped round the body. Every possible effort was made to resuscitate her. My house was closed and business suspended while she remained there; everything required by the doctor and those in attendance were supplied by me.”

5. Why Irish pubs have family names over the doors. It became a legal requirement to display the proprietor’s name over the front door of the premises after legislation passed in 1872. The legacy of this law is often cited as one of the unique features of the Irish pub. Often, a public house operates under a long-obsolete family name – a signature feature in the boom of “Irish pubs” outside Ireland. This change in legislation limited the previous inventive array of names: in Dublin, The Sots Hole in Essex Street, The Wandering Jew in Castle Street, Three Candlesticks in King Street, House of Blazes in Aston Quay, The Blue Leg in High Street, The Holy Lamb in Cornmarket and The Golden Sugar Loaf in Abbey Street are all long since defunct. Some pubs, such as The Bleeding Horse and The Brazen Head, kept both a family name and original title.

6. Travelers used to be legally entitled to a drink.

Bona fide houses utilized a legal loophole – a hangover from the days of coach travel – that allowed a genuine traveler three miles from his place of residence to partake of alcohol outside normal hours. If you lived in Dublin city, the limit extended to five miles from your habitual residence. According to the law, the customer had to have “travelled in good faith”, not for the purposes of taking refreshment; travelers could go into an inn for “refreshment in the course of a journey, whether of business or pleasure”. It was a legally fraught area. In order to prove a public house was taking advantage of it, the court had to prove the publican did not believe his customer was a bona fide traveler when serving outside normal hours. Famous Dublin bona fides included Lamb Doyle’s in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains, Walsh’s Sandyford House – then known as the Widow Flavin’s – and the Dropping Well in Dartry. The law was finally changed in 1943. Bona fide travelers could no longer be served between midnight and 6am, and the pubs were eventually abolished in 1963. The widespread use of cars brought the curtains down on a unique phase of the Irish pub.

7. A computer algorithm solved James Joyce’s Dublin pub puzzle.

Leopold Bloom, the central character in James Joyce’s modernist masterpiece Ulysses, famously said it would be a good puzzle to walk across Dublin without passing a pub. The problem was only solved in 2011 by software developer Rory McCann, using a computer algorithm. There are fewer pubs now than on Bloomsday, June 16th, 1904. On his first attempt, McCann could not find a route that did not pass a hotel. He did, however, rule out restaurants with licenses to serve alcohol. McCann’s route runs from Blackhorse Avenue to Baggot Street. It goes through Stoneybatter, past St James’s Gate – the home of Guinness – down Bride Street, across York Street, past St Stephen’s Green, detouring through the Iveagh Gardens, and down Adelaide Road. He modified this route in 2014 to avoid passing any hotels. Fittingly, it now crosses the James Joyce Bridge.

8. Cocktail bars are nothing new.

In 1932, The Irish Times denounced the cocktail, warning readers: “It is supposed by the many to induce an appetite and to stimulate intelligent conversation; in fact, it absorbs the pancreatic juices and encourages cheap wit.” At the annual meeting of the Irish Association for the Prevention of Intemperance in 1936, it was noted that “appalling revelations have been made in the press lately about cocktail and sherry parties even among business girls in their own apartments”. At the meeting, held in Bewley’s on Grafton Street in Dublin, calls were made for “the discontinuance of cocktails and the elimination of drinking clubs’, as well as ‘the elimination of drinking at public dances”. Later in 1937, The Irish Times reported the belief of a doctor from Clare Mental Hospital that “now that women have taken with avidity to tobacco and cocktails, one can visualize the most appalling results for the human race at a not far distant date”.

9. Until 1973, the only way to get a drink on St Patrick’s Day was to go to the dogs.

St Patrick’s Day, falling as it does in the middle of Lent, was once a day of abstinence. The only place alcohol was sold was in the members’ lounge at the Royal Dublin Dog Show. High attendance figures were guaranteed. Patrick Kavanagh reputedly once rented a dog to get in, while his arch-nemesis Brendan Behan stole a poodle on another occasion. The law did not change until 1973. The celebrations now associated with the national holiday were born in the United States. The first parade took place in 1762, when Irish soldiers serving in the British Army marched through Manhattan to a tavern. It was 1931 before a parade took place in Ireland. There was a major change in 1995 when the Government introduced the St Patrick’s Day festival. According to Diageo, St Patrick’s Day now sees over 13 million pints of Guinness being sold around the world - nearly four times the amount sold on an average day.

10. There are strange things in Dublin pubs.

Some of Dublin’s hostelries harbor strange things. One such is The Clock on Thomas Street, which has an aviary in the beer garden. In Toner’s pub of Baggot Street, the beer garden utilizes predator bird noises to keep away seagulls. It goes off every 18 minutes or so. In Fallon’s in The Coombe, there is a photo of a couple on their wedding day on the ceiling. A local punter given to excessive drinking sometimes fell from his chair. He would see his wife looking down at him, feel suitably admonished, and make his way home. Billy Brooks Carter from Texas loved Mulligan’s of Poolbeg Street so much he requested some of his ashes be kept in the grandfather clock. Every eight days, the staff ‘winds up Billy’.

Irish Heritage

The Destruction of the Kingdom of Brega

Edited from Wild Geese, posted by John Anthony Brennan on September 14, 2016 Ask most people who they believe were the first group of foreigners to launch highly organized, violent raids in Ireland, and more often than not, they will say it was the Vikings, who raided Lambay Island in 795 A.D. What many people are not aware of is the fact that a century before the Vikings, an equally violent group, not from the fjords of Norway, but from a place much closer to home, beat them to it.*

In 686 A.D., a determined individual set sail most powerful kingdom was Northumbria, from a jagged, windswept island on the ruled by the ruthless king Egfrid. The westernmost edge of the Inner Hebrides, in kingdom of Northumbria was a kingdom in the wild, North Atlantic Ocean. His long, what is now northern England and south- hazardous journey would take him down the east and was reportedly founded by rugged west coastline of Scotland and then a Saxon leader named Ethelfrith. Ethelfrith, inland to the kingdom of Northumbria. If he it is believed, defeated the armies of the survived the dangerous trek, he planned to Britons in approximately 600 A.D. at the enter negotiations with Egfrid the Saxon Battle of Catraeth (Catterick). The Britons king and arrange for the release of 60 men, gave him the name Flesaur, which translates women, and children who had been taken as to "the twister." hostages from Ireland two years earlier. The Saxons were a Germanic tribe that lived The man’s name was Adomnan, the of close to the North Sea coast of what is now a monastery on the small isle of Iona, Germany. They amalgamated with another, founded by the Irish scholar monk Colmcille equally ruthless tribe known as the Angles in 563 A.D. Colmcille had been expelled and immediately started to invade their from Ireland as a result of his involvement neighbors. As raiders and vicious in the Battle of Cul Dreimhne (Battle of the plunderers, they were perfectly positioned Book) and he, along with 12 followers, went geographically to send raiding parties to into exile on Iona and built a monastery ravage the British Isles. Significant numbers there. The monastery was hugely successful, of them settled in large areas of Britain in and would play a vital part in the religious the early Middle Ages and formed part of a conversion of the Picts during the late 6th large group known as the Anglo-Saxons. century and of the Anglo-Saxons in 635 Eventually, they became the dominant force A.D. Iona went on to take its place as one of and formed what we know today as the the most important monastic centers in United Kingdom. Europe. In 684 A.D., a large disciplined and well- In the 7th century, the islands of Ireland and armed military force, commanded by king Britain were made up of a series of Egfrid’s top ealdorman, Berht, sailed out conflicting dynasties and warring kingdoms. from the settlements on the western edge of It was not uncommon for a king, who felt Northumbria and made its way to the isle of that he was all powerful, to invade his Manx. The Anglo-Saxons had neighbors and demand fealty. In Ireland plunder, pillage and death on their minds. those in the O’Neill clan were the dominant rulers while in Anglo-Saxon Britain the The target on this night was the royal Irish few remaining survivors, creating permanent kingdom of Brega at Mide (Meath), the seat night. Butchered corpses -- human and of Irish power. Their oft-used methods were animal -- lay strewn in grotesque highly successful and had always worked indifference where they fell. The churches, perfectly in the past. It would be no different which once sang the praises of both king and this time. Move fast, use the night shroud of creator, now reduced to piles of scorched, darkness to surprise, unearthly noise to scare scattered stones, forlorn. The houses usually and bewilder, and the sword and axe to filled with love, laughter and joyous subdue. Spare no-one, save the hostages, as celebration, now razed with violent hatred, a they could be used as barter later on. pitiful sight. Everything of value, including surviving livestock, religious artifacts and The name Brega translates as the “fair plain” hostages were taken to the Saxon ships for a reference to the large, wide, fertile expanse transport back to Northumbria. of land that today straddles the modern counties of Louth, Meath and Dublin. To the The Venerable , a scholar monk and east of Brega lay the Irish Sea and to the author, from the kingdom of Northumbria, south, the River Liffey. The kingdom ran all called the action ‘an unwarranted attack on the way north across the Boyne Valley and innocent, Christian people,’ and criticized stretched as far as the mountains in Louth. Egfrid, king of Northumbria, who planned The king of Brega at that time was and authorized the raid. Bede goes on to tell Fínsnechta Fledach mac Dunchada. how clerics, including the Saxon Egbert, repeatedly warned against such The term fledach was added to his name as a actions and that God would punish the tribute to the personality of the new king and Saxon king for such a terrible act. means “the bountiful.” He had been crowned as the king of Brega and also as the Abbot Adomnan‘s mission was ultimately a Ard Ri (high king) on the nearby Hill of success, and he returned the hostages safely Tara. Two important supporters of his were back to their families in Ireland. the king of Fir Rois and the abbot Adomnan. He belonged to a branch of the southern * In 688 A.D., Fínsnechta, defeated and . When they were sated, the demoralized, abdicated his throne and O’Neill clan entered a monastery to become a monk. In invaders retreated; in their wake, a bare, late 689 A.D., he left the clerical life and devastated wasteland from horizon to resumed the kingship. horizon. Smoke from still smoldering fires in the fields and storehouses hung heavy on the air, choking and stinging the eyes of the

Our DIVISION Prayers

In July 2016 Pope Francis declared “We are living in a moment of annihilation of man as image of God”. He recalled Pope emeritus Benedict’s pronouncement: “It’s the epoch of sin against God, the Creator.”

Say a Prayer of Thanks to Mary Immaculate, Patroness of the United States, for delivering us from progressive secularism and the threat to our religious freedoms and sacred beliefs.

Please pray for the repose of the soul Jeffrey Sean Fitzpatrick and all deceased General Meagher Division brothers and their families.

Please pray for the comfort and healing of our Brothers Neil Mulcahy (cancer), Dick Dowd (recovering from cancer), Jim McMorrow (recovering - cancer & knee replacement).

Keep in your prayers our family members and friends:

 Bill Phillips’ brother Robert;  Rochelle Grey (hip surgery);  Joe Monaghan’s sister-in-law, Donna  Bob Doan’s sister-in-law Latisha Maffeo (cancer) and his father Horwath (Parkinson’s disease); Joseph Monaghan Sr. who is caring  Barbara McCoy (cancer); for his mother and uncle  Amy Whittaker (cancer), (dementia/Alzheimer);  Eileen and Dick (Dick is Eileen’s  Hugh O’Brien’s brother, John care giver), O’Brien (recovering from stroke);  Matthew Carroll (IVNVMP)

Upcoming Events Mark Your Calendars!

Multiple Dates: Bingo! Every Thursday and Saturday evening 6:30PM at St Michael the Archangel High School, 6301 Campus Drive, Fredericksburg, VA 22407 (540) 548-8748). Bring the family!

January 8, 2017: Religious Freedom March -- Celebrates Thomas Jefferson’s drafting of the Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom. 12:45 PM Assemble at Fredericksburg Train Station parking lot 1:30 PM Parade Begins 1:55 PM Parade Arrives at Religious Freedom Monument 2:00 PM Freedom Park on Washington Avenue for speeches/ceremony 3:00 PM Reception (Location TBD)

January 17: Division meeting 7:30PM -- Charities Committee Report

January 21: VAAOH Quarterly State Board Meeting hosted by Colonel Thomas J. Cunningham Division (LO01) in the St Theresa Parish Hall, Ashburn, VA.

January 27: March for Life, Washington, DC

 9:00AM: Pro-Life Mass at St. Mary Mother of God (5th Street NW) This Hibernian Mass will be celebrated immediately prior to our annual Pro-Life Breakfast. Collection will be donated to St. Mary's for use of the Church.  Following Mass: Pro-Life Breakfast at Irish Channel DC (5th Street NW): Annual Pro- Life Breakfast will start at 9:30. Please beat the bushes for attendance; try to make this the best attended year to date. $25/pp for this great hot buffet and pro-life speakers. Join us for the march after breakfast.

September 22-24: VAAOH Biennial State Convention, Virginia Beach Resort Hotel

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General Meagher Division Attire

In a perfect world every brother would have these articles of clothing:  For semi-formal/formal occasions, the AOH “uniform” is green sport coat, tri-color sash, white shirt, Irish theme tie, black trousers and optional ball cap. These occasions include AOH State and National conventions, Masses, funerals, AOH dinners, parades, and other public events.

 At informal events (i.e. Division outings (ball games, picnics, meetings, etc.) the division logo polo or sweatshirts (optional ball cap) are appropriate. Division Logo Items: The Point of Contact for Division logo polo shirts, sweatshirts and ball caps is Shawn Lenahan ([email protected])

Green Jacket: Brothers procure their own green jackets. One source: http://blazerdepot.com/pages/mens_blazer/augustagreenblazer.html. Visit the website; call the 800 number. Tell them you’re with AOH and the $5.00 small order fee can be waived. Kelly green is the color.

AOH Sash: Brothers procure their own sashes. The AOH tri-color sash represents the national colors of Ireland and should be worn over the right shoulder (green closest to neck/collar) crossing to the left hip. Measure from right shoulder to left hip in inches; keep in mind the sash will normally be worn over a jacket, possibly a raincoat/overcoat (and maybe a growing waist line).

Tri-color AOH sashes are available from:  LAOH Sister Patricia Ankrom. Email Patricia at [email protected] She produces 7.5ft long sashes costing $ 40.00 and guarantees satisfaction: if you’re not satisfied send it back for a full refund.  D & E Morrissey (954-426-3514) 1978 S.W. 17th Drive, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442